*This passage includes Stockholm Syndrome*
*A few weeks later*
"Where's my sister?!" I ask Jason as he and I go downstairs into the basement.
"Adalyn?"... I hear a faint voice call my name from the locked room to my left. I count how many locks there are, 4…5…, there's eight locks on the door. I gasp.
"Open the door!" I yell at him, "I'm trying to!" he yells back.
His hands tremble as he opens each lock quickly. As soon as he unlocks the last lock, the person who looks back at me takes my breath away.
I see a small figure sitting at a desk drawing with several paints and paintbrushes surrounding her. Her hair grew longer over the years, turning into bouncy, bountiful shiny brown curls, contrasting her glowing skin. I take in the surroundings, there's a diamond chandelier on the ceiling, displaying shards of light everywhere. A small bed to the left, with lilac bedsheets and magenta pillows, and a large bookshelf to the right.
I step inside the room, that surprisingly looks… "luxurious". My voice cracks as I say her name, "Mariana?" She turns around and looks at me, "Adalyn? Is
that you?" She remains seated in her chair, grounded in shock as she looks at me. I start to walk towards her, "I'm here, it's me, your sister" Tears form in my eyes as my fingers graze the outline of her face. She takes my hand and asks, "Where were you, this whole time?" she looks at me with a wave of disbelief and pain on her face. My voice cracks again as I say, "I was looking for you, Mariana, this whole time you were gone, I never stopped looking for you" "I'm here, I'm finally here" I say. As I reach to grab her hand, I notice a ring on her hand. It's a beautiful rose gold ruby ring, looks expensive, and I've never seen her wear it before.
"I'm getting married," she says. In an instant, the room starts to spin, my lungs slowly start to constrict, I'm imagining this, this isn't happening.
"To who?" I ask. She looks at me with tears in her eyes, "Jason". My eyes immediately dart back to Jason standing in the doorway. "Why... would …..you ... .get…..married...to someone who's keeping you captive?!" I ask her in shock. "Adalyn, he's not that bad, look how kindly he's treated me, he's given me everything I could've ever asked for." She looks at me with such an empathetic expression on her face that I'm actually beginning to wonder how amount of the time she's spent here has caused her to think so irrationally. "Adalyn, please look at me!" she says. I can't look at her, I can't.
"Where's Kari?" I ask her, "Have you forgiven her for what she did to you?" I ask. "I don't know where Kari is, Jason has been with me this whole time." she says.
I clear my throat and begin to speak slowly to Mariana. "Mariana, Kari shot a bright light at you with her magical powers, and then you were unconscious for a week." I say, anger rising in my voice. "You lost your memory and Kari kidnapped you." the anger in my voice erupting like a volcano, "This is the place where you've been held captive." "YOU are HIS captor!!!" I yell at her.
All this time, my sister has been held captive by Jason and she started to fall in love with him. Why, just why is this happening?
But since she lost her memory, what's even the point of arguing with her when she won't see how wrong everything is?
"I love Jason, Adalyn, and you have to understand that there's nothing you can do about that. I'm sorry, but the wedding is in two weeks."
She won't listen to me, she's just too stubborn.
"Honestly, Adalyn, I'm happy, I'm with Jason now, I have a beautiful bedroom, and everything I've ever wanted."
I can't anymore, I just can't listen to her talk about it anymore.
She reaches over to hold my hand, "I want you to be my maid of honor, please," she says. "Mariana, I need to….talk to Jason, I'll be right back." I say. "Wait," she says, "will you be my maid of honor?" she looks at me with such a hopeful expression, it's so hard not to say yes. "You know I'll always be there for you," I say as I walk out the door, climb upstairs and into the living room where Jason is making coffee.
"Next thing you know, you're marrying Mariana in two weeks." "My sister, who you held captive for Kari." I say, with anger rising in my voice. "Anything else I need to know?"
His back is turned to me, he's mixing ¼ cream into his coffee, along with a teaspoon of milk. "I never wanted to do this, Adalyn, and I'm sorry." He walks past me to the cabinet to grab another mug, "do you want coffee?" he asks.
"No, I don't!!" I think I should've said yes because right now I'm so tired, I can't even stay awake. I rub my eyes as I sit at the table. He looks at me with a smirk on his face, "Caramel latte?" he asks, "looks like you need one." I blush, surprised he remembers my favorite coffee. "Yeah, thanks." I say.
"So why did you do this, Jason?" "Why did you hold my sister captive for Kari?" I ask, as tension fills the space around us.
"Answer my question!!" I yell. He looks at me while grinning, "Which question?" He asks, "Why I did this, or why I held her captive, because I didn't have a choice in either of them".
"You're not being specific, just tell me!!" I yell.
"My brother kidnapped Kari, ok." he says, "Trevor Shadow, he's five years older than me. He was madly in love with her, and every day he would just dream of being with her. I never knew he kidnapped her, and I was perplexed as to why he did. One day, she was able to escape and made a deal with me. Kari said she wouldn't report my brother for abduction, he wouldn't go to jail, if I could go along with the plan and hide Mariana."
"You have to understand why I did this, Adalyn. My brother wouldn't go to jail and Kari got what she wanted, which was justice. Mariana was already unconscious. Kari was so hurt and traumatized from her experience. And I felt sympathetic towards Kari. I took care of Mariana, bought her things, and talked to her. I gave her everything, all of it was to cover up for my brother, and then I fell in love with her." he says, looking at me as his eyes cloud with an unreadable expression
A dark chill emerges in Jason's eyes as I say, "So you just followed along with her plan?! That she wouldn't report your brother for abduction just so you could hold my sister captive?!" I ask.
"Kari didn't get justice by doing the same thing Trevor did. To her own best friend," I say, enunciating every syllable as anger rise up in my voice.
"I didn't question it, it was a good deal anyways." he says.
I'm so upset, furious that all of this was related to him, his own secret, my sister taken away from me because of this. In an instant, I raise my hand and slap him. "How dare you do this?!" He flinches back in pain, the imprint of my hand outlining a red frame on his face. "What was your plan?, to keep her captive forever?!" I ask. I'm barely able to breathe now.